Theater urges children to play along

LAKESIDE – As the lights dimmed at the end of a musical production last weekend at Lakeside Middle School, performers and their parents celebrated another successful year for the city's youth theater program.

Actors performed “Seussical the Musical.” The play is adapted from Dr. Seuss' various children's books. The play included some of Seuss' most famous characters, including the iconic Cat in the Hat and Horton the Elephant.

Overall, 130 children took part by performing duties on and off the stage. Marissa Drammissi, a junior at El Capitan High School, sang and designed the stage lighting.

“I actually used to be really shy in second grade when I started,” said Marissa, 16. “It's really opened up my range (of abilities).”

The production marked the eighth outing for PLAY, or Performing Lakeside Acting Youth, a nonprofit performing arts organization supported by the Lakeside Union School District. The program is also sponsored by businesses including the Brigantine restaurant in La Mesa and Barona Casino, which donated sound equipment.

PLAY is open to Lakeside-area students in grades five through 12. The organization depends not only on commercial sponsorship but parent volunteers as well. Each year, the group puts on a play.

“It's been a great community effort pulling this whole thing together,” said Steve Mull, principal of Lakeside Middle School and director of PLAY. Mull and his brother, Cliff, a Lakeside teacher, founded the program in 1999 and have been coordinating it ever since.

Parents and teachers helped sell raffle tickets and T-shirts, and staffed the snack bar during the intermission. The volunteers also appeal to businesses for backing and to handle publicity for the shows.

Proceeds from ticket, snack and raffle sales are funneled back into the program, which uses the money to produce plays.

“The parents are what keep this program going,” Steve Mull said.

Mull was active in college theater, and his 17-year-old twins, Jeffrey and Jason, played Horton the Elephant and the Cat in the Hat, respectively. This is the college-bound twins' final year in PLAY.

Cliff Mull said that any youngster willing to audition or participate gets a role, and that children don't have to pay to be in a play.

“We never turn anybody away,” Cliff Mull said.

Steve Mull said the organization's goal is to “make (performing) totally accessible to every kid in Lakeside at no cost.”

“If we really wanted to improve the test scores of all the schools, we would put arts programs in (them),” Steve Mull said, adding that discovering the arts has turned around many troubled kids. “I would like to see this program here 50 years from now.”